AN: Thanks everyone for the favs and follows! Enjoy Chapter 2!

Thick and luscious green leaves were her surroundings now. Occasionally, stray rays of sunlight would break through the crowns, which made for a beautiful, playful spectacle. Sounds of Pokémon were coming from all around her, making not smiling an impossible task. This was it. This was what she had worked for her entire life, the whole sixteen years of it.

Well, not exactly the whole sixteen years, since that was impossible but –

She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back on track.

A couple of fights were already going on between rookies, with a Sandshrew viciously scratching at its opponent, a Venonat. The other fight was a Poliwag taking on a Spearow. She took a moment to watch them. It still felt surreal. She still couldn't believe that she was really here, that she was doing this. Left and right, her peers were already busy catching Pokémon or battling it out between each other, which was valuable training for their starters. She pulled out her scroll from her skirt's pocket, opened the new PokéDex app and searched for the entry of her registered Paras.

Opening the tab of the scan results, Ruby took a look at her Pokémon's known attacks. "Hmm, Scratch and Spore. That's pretty standard. I can work with that."

She grabbed Paras's ball and released him. He looked up at her, so she knelt onto the ground, scratching him gently between the two mushrooms growing out of his back.

"You want to stay outside for a bit?" she asked him. "Maybe we can have our first battle or catch your first teammates."

He clicked with his clawed forelegs, then started to climb up her boots and legs. Giggling, she picked him up, put him on her shoulder and resumed her trek to Emerald Village.

After leaving the entrance area leading to Beacon Academy behind her, the forest became quieter. A few Spearows and Pidgeys were perching on the trees. She also caught sight of the odd Rattata hurrying from bush to bush and an Ekans slithering right behind one, probably chasing it.

"Hey, you!"

Ruby turned to her right to see a boy around her age walk up to her. She didn't recognize him, so she assumed that he had graduated from one of the smaller academies.

"Can I help you?" she asked him.

"I challenge you and your Paras to a battle!"

She grinned immediately, then glanced at her partner sitting on her shoulder. "What do you say, Paras? Ready for your first battle?"

Instead of answering, he jumped down from her shoulder and landed on the ground, if a little awkwardly. Then, he clicked his claws at the boy menacingly.

"Feisty little fella," the boy said. "I like him."

"I've only got him today!" Ruby said with a grin. "I can already tell he's great though!"

Chuckling, the boy grabbed a ball from his belt. "One on one, standard rules?"

"Yup." Her voice betrayed her excitement and nervousness.

Virtual simulations were all good and well, but now, she was responsible for the wellbeing of another intelligent, sentient being. It was her duty to guide her partner through this battle and take care of it afterwards. She may know the basics of battle, but this? This was real life.

"Let's go, Bellsprout!"

Ruby wasted no time to point her scroll at it, scanning the Pokémon with her PokéDex-app.

Bellsprout, the flower Pokémon. A carnivorous Pokémon that traps and eats bugs. It uses its root feet to soak up needed moisture.

She frowned. A poison type could be problematic for Paras, but only if this Bellsprout already knew a poison type move. That was unlikely.

"Start with Growth, Bellsprout!" her opponent commanded his Pokémon.

Raising its offensive abilities. Good strategy. She'd have to put a stop to it early. "Paras, use Spore!"

He shook himself wildly and aimed his mushrooms at the Bellsprout, a thick cloud of powdery white spores raining slowly on the flower Pokémon. It quickly dashed away – more quickly than one would think, considering its disproportionately built body.

"Vine Whip!" its trainer yelled and the Bellsprout immediately lashed out with its thin arms, extending them and using them like whips.

It was too fast for her Paras to dodge and landed a direct hit, but, as a result, another thick cloud of small spores erupted on the battlefield; this time, a sparkling yellow.

The Bellsprout's movements became slow and erratic, the paralysis taking effect, causing Ruby to grin.

"Scratch, Paras!"

Her Pokémon scuttled towards the Bellsprout, attacking it with his claws.

"Keep going, buddy! Keep scratching!" "C'mon, Bellsprout! C'mon!"

With pure willpower, the Bellsprout lashed out with another Vine Whip at her Paras and managed to land another direct hit. This time, however, it didn't cause another explosion of spores. Paras didn't look too beat up yet, even though he took two strong hits. It was a good thing that, even though they were powered up, Bellsprout's attacks were still mostly ineffective against Paras.

"Well done!" her opponent said, cheering loudly. "Another growth, then another Vine Whip! Be careful not to hit those mushrooms, though!"

Bellsprout glowed again as it powered its offence once more.

"Paras, catch its vines when it attacks you!" Ruby commanded with a sudden surge of inspiration.

Bellsprout attacked, landing a wicked hit, but Paras indeed managed to get a firm hold on one of the vines. Panicking a bit, Bellsprout reeled in its caught vine, dragging Paras with it.

"Keep hitting it until it lets go!" her opponent commanded his Pokémon.

Ruby wasn't worried though. She had it right where she needed it. "Use Spore, Paras!"

Not wasting a moment, her Paras did as she said and covered the Bellsprout in such a thick cloud that it momentarily vanished from sight. A mild gust of wind blew Paras' spores away, however, and uncovered a deeply sleeping Bellsprout.

"Aw, man." The boy sighed and returned his Bellsprout back into its ball. "Well fought, buddy." He then looked at her with a small grin. "You too."

After picking up Paras and putting him back on her shoulder, she grinned at him. "Thank you! I have to be honest, though: if your Bellsprout would have been a little more experienced and if it would have known a poison move, it could've turned out differently."

"Maybe, but I'm not a fan of ifs. Fact is, I lost and you won."

She held out her hand, which he took and shook. "Good fight," she said.

"Good fight."

The sun had started its ascend, the rays breaking through the trees' crowns getting weaker and the shadows on the ground starting to shift. It was time to set up her camp.

Emerald Forest was huge, but that was also why it was both considered the perfect starting point for rookies as well as the first big test. Everything they had learned, ranging from survival to Pokémon care, after-battle-care and first-aid was being put to the test. It was like one last, big exam.

Ruby was feeling good about her 'exam', with the nice camping spot she had found for herself. It wasn't too close to others she was hearing, but close enough to react in case of an emergency and vice versa. Her sleeping bag was prepared, her fireplace burning bright and illuminating the slowly darkening forest.

After allowing Paras to burrow himself into the ground to feed on a tree's roots, she grabbed her scroll to call her family.

It barely rang once when her mum immediately picked up. "Hi, sweetie! How are you? Have you eaten already? Did you find a good place to rest? How is Paras?"

Ruby was torn between feeling mild annoyance and wanting to hug her mum. "I'm great, mum," she said with a grin. "Paras is feeding right now and I'm gonna eat those sandwiches you've made."

"I hope you don't plan on eating the cookies when you're about to go to bed, young lady."

She grinned cheekily. "No, mum, I finished them earlier."

"Who're you talking – hey, Rubes!" Yang sat down next to her mum, hogging the camera screen a bit. "Did you catch a cool Pokémon yet? Have you battled someone yet?"

"I haven't caught anything yet, but Paras won his first fight earlier today!" Ruby answered with a grin. "It was so cool and I was so nervous, but once I got into it I actually kind of relaxed. We did pretty well against that bellsprout."

"Was it a paid fight?" her mum asked, but Ruby shook her head.

"No, mum. That's okay, though. We've all just started and I'd feel kind of bad taking someone's money already."

"Exactly. I –"

"Wha– hey!" Ruby scrambled up, leaving her mother startled, but she had other worries at the moment. She quickly picked up her scroll. "I'll call you back in a moment, mum!"

Ending the call, she put Paras in his Pokéball mid-feed – she'd have to make that up to him later – and ran after a male Nidoran fleeing with the bag of her sandwiches. How she hadn't seen him sooner when he must have snuck up and searched through her bag was beyond her, but she couldn't worry about that too much yet.

The Nidoran didn't get too far away, so she leapt forward and caught him, careful to avoid his venomous spikes on his back as well as his horn. She then carried the struggling Pokémon back to her camp and sat down on her sleeping bag.

"Stealing is rude, you know?" Ruby told the glaring Pokémon. She glared right back. "You have absolutely no room to look at me like that. Besides," she said, pointing at the sandwiches, "those are super unhealthy for you. You could've gotten food poisoning, dummy."

"Nido! Nido!"

She giggled at the high pitched cheeping of the Pokémon. "I have a bag with Pokémon food. I'll let you down, place the bag there and you can eat some, okay?"

The Nidoran appeared to consider it for a moment, then nodded slowly. She placed him next to her, eyeing him carefully to make sure he didn't try to snatch her sandwiches again, then searched through her backpack. After finding the Pokémon food, she took it out and opened the bag, placing it in front of the wild Nidoran. He, however, didn't begin to eat. He just snatched that bag and was about to run away, but she caught him again.

She squinted her eyes at him. "You can't just take the whole bag, buddy."

He struggled and wiggled again in her grasp, making her raise her brows. It could be nothing, but it could also be something and she'd rather be safe than sorry. So, instead of taking the bag from him, she put him back on the ground and he immediately ran away again.

She called Paras from his ball. "Watch our camp and if someone tries to steal something, just use Spore! I'll be back soon!" Then, she followed Nidoran.

Luckily, with the bag in his mouth, he struggled a bit, so she caught up to him quickly enough as he disappeared into another bush. Ruby followed, ignoring the twigs and thorns cutting into her arms and thighs.

Then, following the Nidoran into a thicket of bushes, she saw what had him so agitated. Lying on her side was a female Nidoran. Her blue hide looked paler than she remembered it from her textbooks and she was breathing shallowly. The male Nidoran dropped the bag of Pokémon food by her side, poking her with his nose, but she didn't react.

"I don't think food's gonna help, buddy," Ruby said softly, startling the Pokémon.

It turned towards her and growled in its tiny, high-pitched way. "Nido! Nidoran!"

"I can help," Ruby said after crouching down. "I have some medicine. I'm not sure how much it'll help, but it might be enough to get her to the Pokémon Center in Emerald Village and there they'll take a look at her."

The Nidoran kept growling at her, protecting his friend or sibling or maybe even mate – could Nidoran bond that deeply when this young? – obviously still agitated, still not trusting her.

"I want to help," Ruby said softly. "I promise."

Both she and the male snapped their heads towards the female as she sighed softly. Then, for an eternal moment, she went scarily still. In that fraction of a second, Ruby felt how all blood drained from her face. In that fraction of a second, the male poked her again with his nose, shoved her lightly with his front legs.

Then, thankfully, with a twitch of her hind leg, she breathed out and then in again.

Ruby let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "She needs help, Nidoran," she said softly, concentrating on the obvious task at hand again. If he wouldn't step away now, she'd just grab the female. Such a potentially avoidable death was not on her list of things she'd wanted to experience in her first night as a licensed trainer.

Thankfully, the female had scared him enough just now, because he actually stepped to the side this time.

Ruby immediately grabbed her, again carefully avoiding the venomous Nidoran-bits, and started quickly walking, the male close behind her. She noticed how hot the female felt, causing quite the discomfort for her hands. She hoped it was 'just' a strong fever and nothing worse.

It didn't take them long to get back to her camp, which looked, thankfully, undisturbed. Paras watched her and the Nidorans curiously as she approached her sleeping bag and gently placed the female on it. "We'll have to pack up and keep going to the village, Paras," Ruby explained while rummaging through her backpack. "This Nidoran is in a bad spot." Paras hissed and clicked, making her smile despite the situation as he started to put things together for her to pack up.

She found the PokéMedicine, which, for inexperienced trainers, consisted of an antibiotic cocktail. It was a bit of a risk because, against certain bacteria, the mixture might not work at all since some antibiotics reacted in a certain way against certain bacteria when mixed with certain other antibiotics. It was complicated. Most of the time, however, beginners had made good experiences with this. Ruby hoped she'd be one of the lucky ones.

Under the watchful eyes of the male, Ruby gently opened the female's mouth, the still very shallow breaths coming from her working wonders to keep her calm. She placed a few droplets on the small Pokémon's tongue, triggering the swallowing reflex. Then, she started to quickly pack up, which also didn't take too long. Years of academy training and camping with her family had made setting up and packing a camp almost second nature.

Paras also helped, of course.

As soon as she was back on her way, with the female Nidoran in her arms, she called her mum again, who, once again, didn't waste a moment to pick up.

"Ruby! Are you alright?! What happened?! And – are you walking? Why aren't you at your camp?"

Her mother looked and sounded so worried, Ruby immediately felt so bad for having ended the call the way and as suddenly as she did. "Sorry, mum. It's just...this Nidoran –" she turned the camera of her scroll to point at the small Pokémon walking next to her, "– tried to steal my sandwiches when I wasn't looking. Turns out, he wanted to help this Nidoran." This time, she pointed the camera at the female she was carrying, wrapped in one of her sleeping shirts. "She's really sick, mum," Ruby said, not even trying to hide her worry. "I'm heading to Emerald Village now to get it to the Pokémon Center."

Her mum sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're okay, sweetie. You had me worried there. Good luck with the Nidorans. I shouldn't keep you distracted."

"I'll call you when I've arrived at the Pokémon Center."

"Please do," her mum said. "I'll tell Yang that you're fine. She was worried as well."

"Thanks, mum. Good night."

Xxx

It took her another hour or two until she arrived at the small, picturesque village sitting at the edge of Emerald Forest, hence its name. She could already see the small Pokémon Center, which was conveniently placed to be the very first building one would see upon reaching the village. The male Nidoran, even though it looked a bit tired, hadn't wavered once throughout their journey. Ruby was impressed by that little guy. The female hadn't gotten any better, but at least she also hadn't gotten any worse. Maybe the medicine had helped.

The entrance door of the Pokémon Center opened with a hiss, revealing a few trainers waiting here and there for treatment. Ruby walked to the counter, making the nurse look up from her computer.

"Hi, uh, this Nidoran is kinda very sick and –"

"Is she wild?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah, I –"

"Chansey, Chansey, Chansey."

Ruby could only blink when a Chansey arrived, took the Nidoran from her arms, put a yellow clip on her ear and disappeared towards the treatment area.

"She'll be taken care of," the nurse said with a friendly smile. "If you want, there are still a couple of beds free in our hostel. Feel free to register."

"Thanks," Ruby said with a sigh, the tiredness starting to creep in on her. "I'll do that." With one Nidoran taken care of, only one remained. Crouching again, she looked at the male with a friendly, but tired smile. "You wanna come with us to the hostel?" She reached a careful hand out and scratched him gently behind his large ears. The Nidoran leaned into her touch, if only very slightly. He appeared to still be wary of her, though it looked like she had managed to gain a bit of his trust. "It's decided then," she said and picked him up. This time, he didn't struggle. Instead, he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

She could use some shut-eye as well.